Imagine your favorite professor in their undergraduate years. Presumably, their dedication to studying surpassed even the most intelligent students in their class.
One Hillsdale student, however, seems to have matched scholarly enthusiasm of his professors.
Senior Joshua Benjamins recently completed his senior history thesis, an exhaustive 163-page document accompanied by 75 pages of optional translation from Peter Martyr Vermigli’s Latin commentary on 1 Corinthians. Benjamins’ professors were not surprised at his brilliant work after watching him excel at Hillsdale.
“I’m pretty interested in this subject, as I teach the Reformation,” Assistant Professor of History Matthew Gaetano said. “What Josh wrote in that thesis is not only the best student writing I’ve ever encountered, but also the best thing I’ve ever read on that subject. These are serious conversations that have huge implications.”
Distinguished Visiting Assistant Professor of History Darryl Hart and Assistant Professor of History Korey Maas agreed that Benjamins’ work compared to a dissertation or master’s thesis.
“I guess I didn’t originally plan for it to be quite that long; there was a lot of unexplored research to be done, and I just became very engrossed in the subject,” Benjamins said.
After studying Latin for five years, he can read it at sight. His work received national recognition as well, with plans to publish two additional chapters of his commentary translations.
“I think Josh’s Latin is better than mine,” Gaetano said.
In addition, Benjamins also knows Greek, Spanish, German and French. He is the president of Eta Sigma Phi, a volunteer Latin teacher at Hillsdale preparatory school, and president of the Lyceum. He even finds time to take Sundays off from studying.
“I find it really helpful to have one day where I’m not studying and can sort of be refreshed and revitalized,” Benjamins said. “I go to church and have a chance to read some other literature that I don’t have to read for class. And catch up on sleep sometimes.”
“If you ever see him walking around, he’s always walking fast,” Gaetano said. “He’s not a lingerer.”
Though his thesis was written for his history major, he is also a Latin major and involved in the classics department.
“He’s one of our winners for the Corona Classica, which is our departmental award for an outstanding senior who will go on to a Greek-related field. In the last year, he’s delivered five papers at national conferences,” Assistant Professor of Classical Studies Joseph Garnjobst said.
Many of Benjamins’ professors talk about him not as another student, but as an equal.
“When I talk to Josh, I’m just talking with another scholar. I’m able to try ideas out on him, and I think he’s able to try ideas on me. He’s the sort of student that you sometimes worry: am I actually teaching you anything?” Gaetano said.
He also referred to Benjamins as a “friend” multiple times.
“He’s been a model representative of Hillsdale, and I think he’s going to do us proud in whatever career he chooses,” Maas said. He mentioned Benjamins’ conversations with his housemates, all from very different religious backgrounds.
“I hear the sorts of discussions that go on there, and they’re not the typical dorm discussions that I experienced as an undergraduate,” Maas said.
Perhaps this is in part because of how he defines himself.
“Because I’m a Christian, I try to find ways to glorify God in all my work, and that includes my studies. I’m someone who really enjoys working with literature and ideas, and exploring more about the relationship between ideas and the way ideas work out in history,” Benjamins said.
Hart compared him to the child-actor Thomas Horn in the movie “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”
“I will venture to say that Horn will never make a better movie in the rest of his life. And he will venture to search for an outlet and I couldn’t help but wonder: if Josh’s thesis is like that, where does he go from here? How can he go up?” Hart said. “I think in the academic world it’s possible to do that, but it’s still a rare achievement.”